Nurturing Heightened Awareness in Seijaku Classes

Recently, I taught two Seijaku classes and used Justin’s Heightened Awareness book as a supplement. Wanting to make sure that I taught it correctly, I would frequently visit Justin. He asked that I write an article for the VFJ describing how I use Heightened Awareness in the Seijaku class. In this article, I also share some of Justin’s insights on Seijaku.

Justin describes Seijaku as fundamentally a spiritual, not a physical, discipline. It’s not the body but Awareness that is emphasized when pushing through the resistance. “It’s the Chi that’s pushing, not the body,” is how he described it to me. As to my question of the role of breath in the “hard” aspect of Seijaku, Justin said, “I’ve never heard of an audible exhalation.” Nor is there any difference in the body’s speed when transitioning between the hard and soft. Watching Justin’s Seijaku tape/CD (a must for any Seijaku teacher) confirms his statements: He does not use an audible breath or any body part to push through the resistance nor does he vary his speed when moving from the hard to the soft. One can observe an effortless shift in Justin’s movements as he flows from softness through resistance and back to softness again.

Seijaku is called Advanced T’ai Chi Chih. The principles are the same as T’ai Chi Chih’s: flowing movement, complete yin/yang shift, circularity and polarity. What makes it different from T’ai Chi Chih? The addition of Awareness of the shift from resistance to softness and back to resistance makes it much more challenging to the practitioner. It is impossible to daydream and do Seijaku correctly! The emphasis on Awareness amplifies the flow of the Chi, resulting in Heightened Consciousness. Many of my students say they experience the sense of past and future falling away leaving a calm center of “no words”. This can be quite an “Ah ha” experience leading to Joy.

Heightened Awareness, Justin says, “always begins on the inside…. We begin to be aware of the vast ocean of Consciousness in which we swim.” Because of Seijaku’s emphasis on Awareness, I encourage the students to practice Justin’s exercises in Heightened Awareness and apply them to their Seijaku practice. Regularly practicing the exercises strengthens their ability to stay in Bare Awareness as the Chi pushes from the soft to the hard and then back to the soft. Are they Aware of the point at which the yin leg becomes the yang leg during their practice? Are they Aware when their mind starts daydreaming? (If so, then bring it back to one-pointed Awareness.) Are they Aware of the physical contact their body makes with the floor and space as they travel through it? Justin notes, “He who is aware of the tactile stimuli and the mental reaction to a given stimulus has taken a big step forward in understanding life.” Are practitioners Aware of what they see and hear as they move? If there is a reaction to the sight or sound, make a note of it and return to Bare Awareness. (Justin notes, “If this practice carries over into every day life, you will have taken the first step toward real mindfulness.”)

At first, students yo-yo between Awareness and Fogginess. To increase their success in staying with Awareness, I invite them to “custom design” the resistance through which they are passing. One student who had difficulty letting go of the “hard” made her resistance jello-like. This made for a smooth exit into the soft. As the students become more able to stay Aware of the soft/hard aspects, I invite them to make the resistance section denser. This flexible invitation seems to work: They are able to keep to the principles of T’ai Chi Chih and enjoy the fruits of Seijaku’s enhanced Chi flow.

Enhancing the development of one-pointed Awareness with the help of Justin’s Heightened Awareness book makes Seijaku the spiritual practice that he intended. Suddenly the practitioner may feel that Seijaku is doing Seijaku, just as Justin had the experience in the Japanese garden of “T’ai Chi Chih doing T’ai Chi Chih”. But Seijaku’s Heightened Awareness brings much more than increased Chi flow. In Justin’s words, “With Heightened Awareness we begin to approach cognition of Reality: An unchanging reality underlying phenomenal changes. Intuit the Real and attune to it against the background of constant change. To live in the changing with an eye on the Eternal is the way of Saints and Sages.”